"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

So Who Really Supports Offshoring American Jobs? The Senate Voted Yesterday-- And Offshoring Won

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Not funny... not at all

The effective conservative ruling coalition has spoken-- for their corporate masters, masters who seem determined to drive U.S. wages down so that the middle class utterly disappears, and most Americans end up in a state of penury and so that no one will be able to afford anything. Good these corporate geniuses are so far-sighted and concerned about what's good for the society. Of course that's not their job. Their job is their own companies' immediate bottom line. Our elected representatives are supposed to worry about the well-being of society. So what happens when the corporations are so powerful that they own an entire politician party (100% of it) and enough of the other party so that they call the shots? Glad you asked. It was apparent in the Senate (again) yesterday.

Harry Reid called for a cloture vote to end the Republican filibuster of Dick Durbin's S.3816, the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act. Despite how the American people feel about offshoring their jobs, and despite a looming election, the vote to end the filibuster went down 53-45. In other words, the majority wanted to end the offshoring but, not a big enough majority (60 votes) to end the filibuster. Durbin's bill is co-sponsored by 8 Democrats: Barbara Boxer (CA), Sherrod Brown (OH), Byron Dorgan (ND), Patrick Leahy (VT), Harry Reid (NV), Bernie Sanders (VT), Chuck Schumer (NY) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), 7 economic populists + Schumer. The bill seeks to amend "the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) exempt from employment taxes for a 24-month period employers who hire a employee who replaces another employee who is not a citizen or permanent resident of the United States and who performs similar duties overseas; (2) deny any tax deduction, deduction for loss, or tax credit for the cost of an American jobs offshoring transaction (defined as any transaction in which a taxpayer reduces or eliminates the operation of a trade or business in connection with the startup or expansion of such trade or business outside the United States); and (3) eliminate the deferral of tax on income of a controlled foreign corporation attributable to property imported into the United States by such corporation or a related person, except for property exported before substantial use in the United States and for agricultural commodities not grown in the United States in commercially marketable quantities."

Joining every single Republican-- including fake "moderates" Susan Collins, Scott Brown and Olympia Snowe-- were conservative, corporate-oriented Democrats Max Baucus (MT), Ben Nelson (NE), Jon Tester (MT), Mark Warner (VA) and Connecticut For Lieberman Party Senator Joe Lieberman. Blanche was out looking for a new job on K Street and didn't bother showing up for the vote. Her pals at the U.S. Chamber were hysterically opposed to the bill:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called on lawmakers to oppose the bill, saying it would hurt the economy and lead to job cuts. Instead, the group urged lawmakers to extend all of the Bush tax cuts set to expire on Dec. 31-- an issue Congress is unlikely to resolve until after congressional elections on Nov. 2.

The debate over outsourcing comes as Congress is under pressure to stimulate jobs, with the nation's unemployment rate holding near 10%... The Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act would give U.S. employers a two-year break from payroll taxes on wages paid to new U.S. workers performing services in the United States, according to a summary of the legislation.

To be eligible, businesses would have to certify that the U.S. employee is replacing an employee who had been performing similar duties overseas.

The goal is to encourage multinationals to hire American workers for jobs that would have otherwise been outsourced to countries with lower labor costs.

Bernie Sanders spoke the most eloquently on the need to battle conservative predators on the issue. Here he was with Ed Schultz on Monday: